Health is a common concern students put on the backburner while working to earn their diploma. My focus is on why your health deserves to be more than just an afterthought on your road to success. I am a magazine journalism major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a minor in health and wellness. I serve as the editor-in-chief of the only on-campus health magazine, What the Health, and contribute to several other publications around SU. Check out what else I've written for my previous internships at Redbook and HerCampus by visiting redbookmag.com and hercampus.com. E-mail me at pcarlotti@forbes.com.

How Your Student Debt Can Make You Sick And Depressed

The “Congratulations!” cards have stopped coming in the mail and the college discount and drink specials no longer apply. With graduation season over, now all you’re left with is a looming stack of student loans in a shaky economy. It’s no secret that mounting debt is bad for your bank account, but it’s worth considering the physical and psychological impact of student debt.

A 2013 study conducted by Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine found that 24- 32-year olds reported greater incidents of high blood pressure and depression as a result of high financial debt. Researchers asked 8,400 participants about their debt-to-asset ratio as well as how much debt they owed, not including a home mortgage. The results revealed that those with high compared to low debt reported an 11.7% increase in perceived stress, a 13.2% increase in depressive symptoms like increased irritability and lack of focus, and a 1.3% increase in blood pressure.

“These are people who are supposed to be living the healthiest years of their lives,” says Thomas McDade, Ph.D., co-author of the study and professor of anthropology at Northwestern. “This study showed that debt has a serious influence on our stress, which then affects our physical and mental health.”

High blood pressure can lead to diseases like hypertension and increased risk of heart disease, obesity and stroke, even in young adulthood. Depression can reduce one’s quality of life and prevent people from taking action against the development of its physical impacts, according to McDade.

The University of California, Los Angeles just released a study that linked depression and high blood pressure to memory problems such as reduced attention span and cognitive reserve in young adults. These are both precursors to Alzheimer’s disease. While most young adults aren’t worrying about strokes and dementia just yet, infertility, hair loss and obesity are additional comorbidities of stress and depression.

Another 2013 study conducted by Indiana University, Bloomington went even further, finding that debt driven by student loans can go beyond a pain in your neck and actually influence how a student is spending “the best four years of their lives.” Researchers found that students without debt found themselves with a full social calendar. Those carrying the debt burden, however, took one of two routes. One group of students found themselves isolated from the rest of campus and disengaged from the extra-curricular activities dominated by their debt-free counterparts. They did not hit the books as often as they should, either. The other group, however, seemed to have more focus on getting themselves out of debt by studying the most of the three groups and getting involved on campus with the hope of putting themselves in a position to score a well-paying job after graduation.

To be sure, debt is not inherently bad. In fact, says McDade, some forms like student loans can promote social mobility. “Student debt often flows from the earning of a credential that increases prospects on the job market,” says McDade. “Unfortunately, unfavorable forms of debt like high interest rates and escalating penalties can contribute to downward financial spirals that have the opposite effect on social mobility. This study points to what forms of debt may help families and what we should consider avoiding.”

Although the specific health and psychological impact of student loans are unknown, they are generally considered a safer debt for students to carry, as compared to ones like credit card debt, considering an educations’ ROI when compared with other investments. If a person doesn’t finish school or get that job they expect will help pay off the debt, however, that is when things can become overwhelming and take a toll on one’s physical and mental health, according to McDade.

To combat the subsequent diseases, McDade would like to see college campuses provide counseling not simply for emotional needs, but for financial ones, as well. He believes students could benefit from advice on how to avoid certain debts since college is a time when they could be handling their finances on their own for the first time.

“I don’t think it should be critical of people having debt because it is so ubiquitous,” says Elizabeth Sweet, a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Boston and leader of the study. “Since this is going to be a way of life, we need to recognize that it has impacts on both physical and psychological health and it has pathways like stress and depression. We need to do everything we can do to alleviate that off the bat.” Sweet and her team are in the early stages of a new study that will explore what specific kinds of debt are associated with different health outcomes.

“You can’t paint all debt with the same brush—you just have to make sure what you have is manageable and the returns are more payable,” says McDade. “The results of the study make you sit down and consider what are the ‘safer’ forms of debt to you want to find yourselves in.”

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